Day: April 7, 2013

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Postal ID : IDAHO
The state of Idaho is abbreviated to “ID” in a postal address.

6. Memphis belle? : AIDA
“Aida” is the famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi, actually based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, who also designed the costumes and stages for the opening performance. The opera was first performed in 1871 in an opera house in Cairo. In the storyline, Aida is an Ethiopian princess brought into Egypt as a slave. Radames is an Egyptian commander who falls in love with her, and then of course complications arise!

Memphis was an ancient city on the River Nile. The ruins of Memphis are located just south of Cairo, Egypt. It was a magnificent city that eventually failed due to the economic success of the city of Alexandria, located further down the river and right on the Mediterranean coast.

10. Raspberry : JEER
Not so much here in America, but over in the British Isles “blowing a raspberry” is a way of insulting someone (I think it’s called “a Bronx cheer” here in the US).

23. Stevedore, at times : LOADER
A stevedore, or longshoreman, is someone employed in the loading and unloading of ships at a port. The word “stevedore” comes from the Spanish “estibador”, meaning “one who loads cargo”. The word “longshoreman”, is simply from “a man who works alongshore”.

25. Dial competitor : ZEST
Zest is a brand of soap owned by Procter & Gamble in 1958. Actually, Zest was originally promoted as a cleansing product that wasn’t soap at all, one that did not leave a soap scum. However, the “not-soap” concept has now been dropped, and Zest has been used as the name of a regular old bar of soap since 2007.

Dial was the first antibacterial soap introduced in the US. It was given the name “Dial” as it was touted as offering “round-the-clock” protection against any odors caused by perspiration.

26. British soccer powerhouse : ARSENAL
Arsenal Football Club is one of the most famous and successful soccer teams in England. Arsenal play their home matches in North London, and take their name from an old armory called Royal Arsenal where many of the original players were employed.

29. Fish with a long neck : SEAHORSE
Seahorses belong to the genus Hippocampus. The genus name comes from the Greek “hippo” meaning “horse” and “kampos” meaning “sea monster”.

35. Beat at a Nathan’s hot dog contest, say : OUTEAT
Nathan’s Famous has held a Hot Dog Eating Contest every July 4th since 1916, and always at the same location on Coney Island.

36. Snake in “The Jungle Book” : KAA
Kaa is the python character in Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”.

“The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling was originally published in 1894, and is a collection of adventure stories or fables featuring the animals of the jungle and a young boy called Mowgli. Baloo is a sloth bear who teaches the cubs of a wolf pack the Law of the Jungle. His most challenging pupil however is no lupine, but rather the man-cub Mowgli.

40. “Le ___ de Monte-Cristo” : COMTE
“Comte” is the French word for “count”, as in “The Count of Monte-Cristo”, the novel by Alexandre Dumas.

42. Visa offering : DEBIT CARD
Did you know that Visa doesn’t issue any credit cards? Visa just sells the electronic systems and infrastructure to banks who then put the Visa logo on their own cards so that both the customer and merchant know to use the VISA system when making a transaction.

48. Mayo containers? : ANOS
May (mayo) is one of the months in the Spanish year (año).

50. “China Beach” actress Helgenberger : MARG
Marg Helgenberger is an actress best known for roles she plays on television. Helgenberger currently plays investigator Catherine Willows on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. She also played drug-addicted prostitute K.C. Koloski in the Vietnam War drama “China Beach”.

52. Novelist who had two spouses simultaneously : NIN
Anaïs Nin was a French author, famous for her journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

54. N. African land : MOR
The country of Morocco is located in North Africa, but lies just nine miles south of Spain. The two continents are separated by the Mediterranean Sea at the Straits of Gibraltar.

55. “Decision Points” author : GEORGE BUSH
“Decision Points” is a memoir released in 2010 by former President George W. Bush. According to President Bush, he started writing the memoir the day after he left office.

62. Marsh of detective fiction : NGAIO
Dame Ngaio Marsh was a crime writer from New Zealand. Marsh is known as one of the four original “Queens of Crime”, namely: Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Marsh. All her novels feature her hero, a British CID detective, Roderick Alleyn.

65. ___ City, Miss. : YAZOO
Yazzo City in Mississippi is named after the Yazoo River, which in turn was named for the Yazoo tribe of Native Americans that lived near the river’s mouth.

66. Gecko’s gripper : SETA
The word “gecko” comes from an Indonesian/Javanese word “tokek”, which is imitative of the reptile’s chirping sound. In making such a sound, geckos are unique in the world of lizards. More interesting to me than a gecko’s chirping is its ability to cling to walls and to other vertical surfaces. Their feet are specially adapted with “toes” that make extremely intimate, close contact to a surface. The toes have millions of hairs called setae that enable the clinging. It isn’t suction that supports them, but rather van der Waals forces (weak “gravitational” attractions). Fascinating stuff …

71. Local bird life : ORNIS
Avifauna is the collective name for birds of a specific region. An older term for the same thing is “ornis”, which has the same root as “ornithology”.

73. “Bye Bye Bye” band : ‘N SYNC
‘N Sync was a boy band from Orlando, Florida that was formed in 1995. The name of the group came from a comment by the mother of band member Justin Timberlake, who said the boys voices sounded “in sync”. But, it’s also true that the letters of the name ‘N Sync are the last letters of the given names of the five band members:

– Justin Timberlake
– Chris Kirkpatrick
– Joey Fatone
– Lance “Lansten” Bass
– JC Chasez

75. Onetime sunblock agent : PABA
Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), or now its derivatives, is the “active” ingredient in sunscreens in that it absorbs UV radiation. PABA derivatives are used today as PABA itself fell out of favor due to its tendency to stain clothes and to cause an allergic reaction in some users.

77. BB shooter : AIR RIFLE
A BB gun is an air pistol or rifle that shoots birdshot known as BBs. Birdshot comes in a number of different sizes, from size 9 (0.080″ in diameter) to size FF (.23″). 0.180″ diameter birdshot is size BB, which gives the airgun its name.

79. Galileo, for one : ASTRONOMER
Galileo Galilei may be the most famous son of the city of Pisa in Italy and was considered by many to have been the father of modern science. In the world of physics, Galileo postulated that objects of different masses would fall at the same rate provided they did so in a vacuum (so there was no air resistance). There is a story that he dropped two balls of different masses from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate this, but this probably never happened. Centuries later, Astronaut David Scott performed Galileo’s proposed experiment when he dropped a hammer and feather on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission and we all saw the objects hit the moon surface, at exactly the same time.

85. One of the M’s of 3M: Abbr. : MFG
The company that is now called 3M was founded as a mining venture in 1902, and used to be known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.

96. Beat it : BONGO
Bongo drums are Cuban percussion instruments consisting of a pair of drums, one larger than the other, The smaller drum is called the “hembra” (female) and the larger the “macho” (male).

99. Opera character who sings “Largo al factotum” : FIGARO
“Largo al factotum” is an aria from Gioachino Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Seville”.

Figaro is the central character in at least two operas: “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, and “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart. The two storylines are based on plays by Pierre Beaumarchais, with one basically being a sequel to the other.

101. “The ___ Show” (best-selling album of 2002) : EMINEM
Eminem’s real name is Marshall Mathers, a native of Saint Joseph, Missouri. Mathers grew up poor, raised by a single-mom as the family was abandoned by his father when he was 18 months old. Marshall and his mother moved around the country before settling in a suburb of Detroit. He didn’t do well at school, and dropped out at the age of 17. But in the end he made it pretty big …

103. “Great” 1666 conflagration : FIRE OF LONDON
The Great Fire of London was a devastating blaze that swept through the center of the English capital for four days in 1666. The fire started at a bakery in Pudding Lane and eventually destroyed the homes of over 80% of the city’s inhabitants, 13,200 houses and 87 parish churches, as well as St. Paul’s Cathedral. After the fire died out, there was a rush to place blame and a French watchmaker was tried and hanged for setting the blaze. However, it was later discovered that the Frenchman had only arrived in London two days after the fire started.

115. Medical suffix : -ITIS
The suffix “-itis” is used to denote inflammation, as in laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).

119. Designer Picasso, daughter of Pablo : PALOMA
Paloma Picasso is a fashion designer based in Paris. Paloma is the youngest daughter of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and French author and painter Françoise Gilot.

121. They’re on the left in Britain : SLOW LANES
About two third’s of the world’s population live in right-hand traffic countries. There is a lot of evidence that the Ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians tended to keep to the left on roads, by law or by custom. The British and parts of the old British Empire have generally stuck with this left-hand rule, whereas countries influenced by the French, since the days of Napoleon Bonaparte, have moved to a right-hand traffic system.

122. “South Pacific” protagonist and namesakes : EMILES
The main protagonists in the musical “South Pacific” are a young American nurse called Nellie Forbush and an expatriate French planter called Emile de Becque.

The 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific” is based on stories from the 1947 book “Tales of the South Pacific” by James A. Michener. “South Pacific” really is a classic show, featuring some classic songs like “Bali Ha’i”, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair”, “Some Enchanted Evening” and “Happy Talk”.

123. Former Israeli president Weizman : EZER
Ezer Weizman was the seventh President of Israel. Earlier in his career, Weizman was a combat pilot in the UK’s Royal Air Force and later rose to Commander of the Israeli Air Force. He also served as Israel’s Minister of Defense before becoming President.

126. 1978 Peace Prize recipient : SADAT
Anwar Sadat was the third President of Egypt right up to the time of his assassination in 1981. Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 along with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for the role played in crafting the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1978 at Camp David. It was this agreement that largely led to Sadat’s assassination two years later.

Down
1. Cuba, por ejemplo : ISLA
In Spanish, Cuba, for example (por ejemplo) is an island (isla).

2. Coupe’s couple : DOORS
The type of car known as a “coupe” or “coupé” is a closed automobile with two doors. The name comes from the French word “couper” meaning “to cut”. In most parts of the English-speaking world the pronunciation adheres to the original French, but here in most of North America we go with “coop”. The original coupé was a horse-drawn carriage that was cut (coupé) to eliminate the rear-facing passenger seats. That left just a driver and two front-facing passengers. If the driver was left without a roof and out in the open, then the carriage was known as a “coupé de-ville”.

10. Black shade : JET
The color “jet black” takes its name from the minor gemstone known as jet. The gemstone and the material it is made of takes its English name from the French name: “jaiet”.

11. Lover of Psyche : EROS
In the myth of Cupid (aka Eros) and Psyche, the two title characters must overcome many obstacles to fulfill their love for each other. Overcome them they do, and the pair marry and enjoy immortal love.

12. To be in Paris? : ETRE
The French for “to be” is “être”.

13. Buckingham Palace resident : ROYAL
Buckingham Palace is a stately home that, since the days of Queen Victoria, has been the official residence of the British monarch. Buckingham Palace was originally a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703, hence the name.

15. Scotland’s “Granite City” : ABERDEEN
The Scottish city of Aberdeen is located amidst plentiful supplies of granite, which were actively quarried until the 1970s. Many local buildings incorporate the granite in their structure. Aberdeen granite is especially prized for its high levels of mica, which can cause the stone to sparkle like silver.

16. English poet who co-founded the Pre-Raphaelites : ROSSETTI
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet , the son of an Italian poet who lived in exile in Britain. Rossetti was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of 19th-century artists who wanted to return to the style of art that pre-dated Raphael and Michelangelo.

21. Per ___ : DIEM
“Per diem” is the Latin for “by the day”.

32. Egyptian sun deity : ATEN
“Aten” was the name given to the disk of the sun in ancient Egypt. Aten came to be deified in Egypt, and was worshiped as an aspect of the sun god Ra.

33. Reggae precursor : SKA
Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of some sound.

37. Georgia neighbor : ARMENIA
Armenia is a landlocked country found east of Turkey, and is a former Soviet Republic. Back in the year 301 CE, the ancient Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its national religion.

40. Fleetwood or Eldorado, informally : CADDY
Fleetwood and Eldorado are models of Cadillac.

45. Hometown of TV’s McCloud : TAOS
“McCloud” is a fun police drama that aired on television in the 1970s. Star of the show is Dennis Weaver who plays Marshal Sam McCloud, a law officer from Taos, New Mexico on special assignment in New York City. The idea for the show came from the 1968 Clint Eastwood movie called “Coogan’s Bluff”, which has a similar premise.

57. Mata ___ : HARI
Mata Hari was the stage name used by Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, born in the Netherlands in 1876. After an unsuccessful and somewhat tragic marriage, Zella moved to Paris in 1903 where she struggled to make a living. By 1905 she was working as an exotic dancer and using the name Mata Hari. She was a successful courtesan, notably moving in various circles of high-ranking military officers. She apparently worked as a double agent, both for the French and the Germans. When Mata Hari was accused by the French of passing information to the enemy, she was tried, found guilty and executed by firing squad in 1917 at the height of WWI.

59. Good protein source : SOYA
What are known as soybeans here in the US are called “soya beans” in most other English-speaking countries. So, I drink soy milk here in America, but when I am over in Ireland I drink “soya milk”.

60. 1984 title role for Emilio Estevez : REPO MAN
“Repo Man” is a 1984 movie starring Emilio Estevez. It’s about a punk rocker who goes to work as a repo man, and there are lots of car chases. It has become a cult classic, although it doesn’t sound like my cup of tea …

Emilio Estevez is one of the members of Hollywood’s famous “Brat Pack”, having appeared in “The Breakfast Club” and “St. Elmo’s Fire”. Estevez’s father (and can’t you tell it from looking at him?) is actor Martin Sheen. Estevez decided to keep his father’s real name, and not the stage name of “Sheen”. Charlie Sheen is Emilio’s brother, and Charlie’s real name is Carlos Estevez.

70. Order during an M.R.I. : LIE STILL
A CT (or “CAT”) scan produces (via computer manipulation) a three dimensional image of the inside of an object, usually the human body. It does so by taking a series of two dimensional x-ray images while rotating the camera around the patient. The issue with CT scans is that they use x-rays, and high doses of radiation can be harmful causing damage that is cumulative over time. An MRI on the other hand (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), uses powerful magnetic fields to generate its images so there is no exposure to ionizing radiation (such as X-rays). We used MRI equipment in our chemistry labs at school, way back in the days when the technology was still called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI). Apparently the marketing folks didn’t like the term “nuclear” because of its association with atomic bombs, so now it’s just called MRI.

72. Croatian leader? : SERBO-
The language known as Serbo-Croatian is a primary language spoken in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

80. “Hurlyburly” writer David : RABE
David Rabe is an American playwright, a veteran of Vietnam. He is the author of a Vietnam War Trilogy of plays:

– “The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel”
– “Sticks and Bones”
– “Streamers”

82. Like Mars : RED
The surface of the planet Mars has a very high iron oxide content, so Mars is red because it is rusty!

87. Like the word “curiae” in “amicus curiae” : GENITIVE
An amicus curiae is a “friend of the court”, and is a concept that originated in Roman law. An amicus curiae is someone who assists a court in a decision, without being a party to the case in question.

90. Melodic phrase : RIFF
A riff is a short rhythmic phrase in music, especially one improvised on a guitar.

91. Legendary queen of the Britons immortalized by Shakespeare : CORDELIA
Cordelia was the legendary Queen of the Britons, the youngest daughter of Leir. Cordelia and Leir supposedly reigned before the Romans invaded Britain. Cordelia, her father and her two sisters were immortalized by William Shakespeare in his play “King Lear”.

96. Small chickens : BANTAMS
Small breeds of poultry might be known as bantam breeds. European sailors found smaller fowl in Southeast Asia that they referred to as “bantam”, using the name of Bantam, an old Indonesian seaport.

104. Short pastoral piece : IDYL
An idyl is a short poem with a pastoral theme, usually depicting the scene in romantic and idealized terms. The word comes from the Greek “eidyllion”, which literally translates to “little picture” but was a word describing a short, poem with a rustic theme.

107. Some Siouans : OTOES
The Otoe (also Oto) Native American tribe originated in the Great Lakes region as part of the Winnebago or Siouan tribes. The group that would become the Otoe broke away from the Winnebago and migrated southwestwards ending up in the Great Plains. In the plains the Otoe adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle dependent on the horse, with the American bison becoming central to their diet.

108. Where Hercules slew the lion : NEMEA
The Twelve Labors of Hercules is actually a Greek myth, although Hercules is the Roman name for the hero that the Greeks called Heracles. The first of these labors was to slay the Nemean Lion, a monster that lived in a cave near Nemea. Hercules had a tough job as the lion’s golden fur was impenetrable to normal weapons. One version of the story is that Hercules killed the lion by shooting an arrow into its mouth. Another version says that Hercules stunned the monster with a club and then strangled him with his bare hands.

110. Minuteman’s location : SILO
There are still hundreds of Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) in service, with most of them dotted around the landscape of the plain states. I was driving through the area not so long ago and counted five missile silos and two launch control centers, just sitting there, at the side of the road.

117. Moses Malone, on the 76ers : TWO
Moses Malone played in both the ABA and NBA. When he retired in 1995 he was the last former player from the defunct ABA who was still playing professional basketball.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Postal ID : IDAHO
6. Memphis belle? : AIDA
10. Raspberry : JEER
14. Kind of form : RARE
18. Cobbler’s job : SOLING
20. So that one might : IN ORDER TO
22. Black shade : EBON
23. Stevedore, at times : LOADER
24. College student’s place : DORMITORY
25. Dial competitor : ZEST
26. British soccer powerhouse : ARSENAL
28. “Got it” : I SEE
29. Fish with a long neck : SEAHORSE
31. Procrastinators’ enablers : SNOOZE ALARMS
34. Shark, maybe : LENDER
35. Beat at a Nathan’s hot dog contest, say : OUTEAT
36. Snake in “The Jungle Book” : KAA
39. Salad bar items : BEETS
40. “Le ___ de Monte-Cristo” : COMTE
42. Visa offering : DEBIT CARD
47. Of ___ (servicing) : USE TO
48. Mayo containers? : ANOS
49. Turned : GONE BAD
50. “China Beach” actress Helgenberger : MARG
52. Novelist who had two spouses simultaneously : NIN
53. Abbr. on car sellers’ license plates : DLR
54. N. African land : MOR
55. “Decision Points” author : GEORGE BUSH
58. Repeats : DOES OVER
61. Vague response to “When?” : SOON
62. Marsh of detective fiction : NGAIO
65. ___ City, Miss. : YAZOO
66. Gecko’s gripper : SETA
69. Turbulence : MOIL
71. Local bird life : ORNIS
73. “Bye Bye Bye” band : ‘N SYNC
75. Onetime sunblock agent : PABA
77. BB shooter : AIR RIFLE
79. Galileo, for one : ASTRONOMER
83. Electric ___ : EYE
84. Mishandle something, say : ERR
85. One of the M’s of 3M: Abbr. : MFG
88. Electric car : TRAM
89. Football misdirection : REVERSE
91. Hipster’s pad : CRIB
92. Charioteer’s place : ARENA
94. Apt anagram for 42-Across : BAD CREDIT
96. Beat it : BONGO
97. Name on a museum plaque : DONOR
98. Memphis-to-Nashville dir. : ENE
99. Opera character who sings “Largo al factotum” : FIGARO
101. “The ___ Show” (best-selling album of 2002) : EMINEM
103. “Great” 1666 conflagration : FIRE OF LONDON
109. Birthday suit enthusiast : NATURIST
112. Passage : DUCT
113. Video store penalty : LATE FEE
115. Medical suffix : -ITIS
116. Apt anagram for 24-Across : DIRTY ROOM
119. Designer Picasso, daughter of Pablo : PALOMA
120. Coastal niche : COVE
121. They’re on the left in Britain : SLOW LANES
122. “South Pacific” protagonist and namesakes : EMILES
123. Former Israeli president Weizman : EZER
124. Dustup : TO-DO
125. Baffled : LOST
126. 1978 Peace Prize recipient : SADAT

Down
1. Cuba, por ejemplo : ISLA
2. Coupe’s couple : DOORS
3. Apt anagram for 31-Across : ALAS, NO MORE ZS
4. Places to hole up after holdups : HIDEOUTS
5. Unvarying : ONE-NOTE
6. Grant, e.g. : AID
7. How things are generally stir-fried : IN OIL
8. Backs, anatomically : DORSA
9. Munitions supplier : ARMER
10. Black shade : JET
11. Lover of Psyche : EROS
12. To be in Paris? : ETRE
13. Buckingham Palace resident : ROYAL
14. Alters to allow development, maybe : REZONES
15. Scotland’s “Granite City” : ABERDEEN
16. English poet who co-founded the Pre-Raphaelites : ROSSETTI
17. Begins, as a journey : ENTERS ON
19. Scratch the surface of, maybe : GRAZE
21. Per ___ : DIEM
27. Galena and cerussite : LEAD ORES
30. Apt anagram for 55-Across : HE BUGS GORE
32. Egyptian sun deity : ATEN
33. Reggae precursor : SKA
37. Georgia neighbor : ARMENIA
38. Not much, as of paint : A DAB
40. Fleetwood or Eldorado, informally : CADDY
41. Checked out : ON LOAN
43. Ask for change : BEG
44. “How can ___ sure?” : I BE
45. Hometown of TV’s McCloud : TAOS
46. PC insert : CD-ROM
49. Alternative to “com” : GOV
51. Banker’s concern : RUN
54. Apt anagram for 79-Across : MOON STARER
56. Hot tar, e.g. : GOO
57. Mata ___ : HARI
59. Good protein source : SOYA
60. 1984 title role for Emilio Estevez : REPO MAN
63. Apt anagram for 103-Across : INFERNO OF OLD
64. Offshore installation : OILRIG
67. Sun : TAN
68. Multiple-choice choices : A,B OR C
70. Order during an M.R.I. : LIE STILL
72. Croatian leader? : SERBO-
74. Municipal facility: Abbr. : CTR
76. U.S.A. part: Abbr. : AMER
78. Alternative to white : RYE
80. “Hurlyburly” writer David : RABE
81. Tomorrow’s is tonight : EVE
82. Like Mars : RED
85. Was congenial : MADE NICE
86. Completely : FROM A TO Z
87. Like the word “curiae” in “amicus curiae” : GENITIVE
90. Melodic phrase : RIFF
91. Legendary queen of the Britons immortalized by Shakespeare : CORDELIA
93. Teetotaler : NONUSER
95. Cool, in slang : DEF
96. Small chickens : BANTAMS
100. Lose it : GO APE
102. Heart : MIDST
104. Short pastoral piece : IDYL
105. Not built up : RURAL
106. Prefix with car : ECONO-
107. Some Siouans : OTOES
108. Where Hercules slew the lion : NEMEA
110. Minuteman’s location : SILO
111. Stepped : TROD
114. Big ___ (sports conference) : EAST
117. Moses Malone, on the 76ers : TWO
118. N.M. setting : MST

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